Monday, November 12, 2012

What I'm reading these days - 8-11 November

Random articles I've found interesting over the last days or so, posted in each section from the oldest to the newest. Mostly for my own reminder, but if you feel like commenting, I'm always up for an interesting discussion in the comments! Stars indicate articles I found more interesting than the average.

Top Spot:
☆☆☆☆ Ducking Google in search engines (And I say, good luck to him! I've just added it to my browser, in the meanwhile, to test drive)
☆☆☆☆ Beating the recruitment machines (Very good suggestions for online job applications)
☆☆☆☆ When quants tell stories (that's pretty horrifying, if you think about it... how do you feel about this mass of information being collected and used for political ends?)
☆☆☆☆ Fiscal multipliers and growth guesstimates (The table is really horrific... and the graphs too... and the discourse that can't but be built on them too)
☆☆☆☆ The Election and the Right (Many good concepts, in particular in defining what a party actually should be)


On the Euro Crisis:
☆☆☆ Brussels’ fiscal management ‘is not yet up to standard’ (Sad to see the European Commission going the United Nations way when it comes to budget and accounting...)
☆☆ European Commission on fiscal multipliers (in short "Really, fiscal contraction and austerity cause recessions and are counterproductive? No way, says the EC".. nevermind the Baltics, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Spain...)
A comment on the European Commission’s Box 1.5 (interesting comment on the previous subject)
☆☆ Europe Back In The Spotlight (So, Greece is a lost case after all -I wonder if the sudden introduction of euro banknotes right now is purely coincidental- and Spain should follow suit?)
From measures of inflation to the failure of European governance (And salaries keep growing under inflation, and taxes keep rising...)

Greece
Athens Erupts in Riots During Key Austerity Vote (and more to come, but I think it's the first time I read anything like this: "Dozens of workers in Greece's parliament walked off the job, interrupting a heated debate")
☆☆☆ In Greece, Antonis Sisyphus took another painful step forward ( ("There is little sign of vested interest groups accepting the need for fundamental change, which will make it harder for the Troika to provide a constructive report on Greece."... substitute Italy for Greece and it would be just the same)
☆☆ Missing the Bigger Picture in Greece (all too true)
A €5bn Greek bond imminently falling due? Did we mention we have deckchairs by this abyss? (No comment needed... austerity for another decade? They think it's sustainable?)

Spain
☆☆☆ Spain’s fantastical deficit forecasts (Just too much bought on an immense real estate bubble, and you charge it on the State's treasury Ireland style, what can you do about it?)
Spain's Iberia Announces Massive Job Cuts (25% cuts... ouch... i wonder how much the ETS weighted on it)

UK
☆☆ London to lose title of world's finance capital, study warns (maybe a nation cannot make its living only by administering other people's money?


On the US Economy:
The Scariest Jobs Chart, Private-Sector Edition (And looking at that, remember that welfare is relatively minimal in US)
☆☆☆ Goldman Didn't Make Me A Partner & My Career Was Over (Pretty terrifying stuff, and you wonder why people in finance will get on immense risk, when they have to be this kind of competitive?)
Boeing Announces Big Layoffs in Defense Division (interesting they did the day AFTER the election, isn't it?)
Keystone pipeline pushed to forefront (My guess? Not going to happen)
McDonald's sales drops for first time since 2003 (bad economic signal, but maybe good for health?)
The People’s Bailout (Of course, if the operation gains momentum, starting to involve a more than infinitesimal amount of the outstanding obligations, the banks will focus on it thinking they can make money out of bad debt, they will ask more for the redemption and eventually, possibly very quickly, the operation will freeze. But OWS will have had its media exposure for a while, I guess. And who decides what debt will be bought and forgiven?)
☆☆ The Obamacare Layoffs Begin . . . (The comment section is quite interesting)


World Economy and Economics in general:
☆☆ Women, education, and earnings ("The more highly educated women are less likely to be married"...to be expected, I guess, but sad nevertheless)
What kind of inequality matters most? The case for unfairness (Fact is, at some point inequality, assuming everyone else still goes up, still captures too many resources in the hands of people who cannot make them go around again)
☆ Growth or bust (true, but the problem is when your market doesn't quickly reabsorb the unemployment that the busts do create, which is what brings legislators to avoiding bankruptcy when possible) 
Asia’s great moderation (and of course, the fact that there simply are not enough natural resources for all is overlooked...)

Argentina
Argentina, holdouts, and finding a formula (in case I didn't mention it in the past... Just pay them already!)

Iran
☆☆ Iran inflation soars to 24.9 percent (Finally some good news, but I doubt that will stop the Iranian government running towards producing nuclear weapons, or that the people will revolt)


Politics:
China
☆☆☆ Bluffer’s guide to China’s regime change (Write me in for status quo with added aggressive foreign policy to distract people at home)
China submarines to soon carry nukes, draft U.S. report says (did I mention added aggressive foreign policy?)

Egypt
Muslim Brotherhood: Obama Needs To ‘Accept The Will Of The Arab People’ (Ah, the Arab spring and the democracy triumphing... with sharia law, women's segregation and probably another war for Israel)

Israel
☆☆☆ Fill your sandbags (wise to do also for Japan, Georgia, Taiwan and just about any country leaning on the US for their international security and/or internal stability...assuming for the latter there was still anyone, after Egypt, Tunisia and the like)

USA
☆☆ Five ways the mainstream media tipped the scales in favor of Obama (I know, I know, it's Foxnews... yet it rings somewhat true and not all that much dissimilar to Italy)
☆☆ Secret to Romney’s Defeat: Not Enough ‘Angry White Guys’? (True. If Republicans don't open to hispanics appealing to their catholic ethics while dropping the immigration barricades, they are probably history)
☆☆☆ Is Demography Destiny? (same as above)


Miscellania:
'Super-Earth' exoplanet spotted 42 light-years away (Not too far away? Just about anything is too far away and likely will ever be, sadly)
Tomb of Ancient Egyptian Princess Discovered in Unusual Spot (Not to worry, within 50 years it will blown up to pieces as Egypt will follow the enlightened example set out in Afghanistan, Mali...)


No comments: